It appears that casting is in full swing for Alexander Payne’s next, the satirical sci-fi tale Downsizing. Following word yesterday of Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon taking the female lead, TheWrap is reporting that Alec Baldwin (The Departed, “30 Rock”), Neil Patrick Harris (Gone Girl, “How I Met Your Mother”) and Jason Sudeikis (We’re the Millers, Horrible Bosses) have all signed on for currently-unspecified roles.
Downsizing, starring Matt Damon in the lead, tells the high concept story of a man (Damon) and his wife (Witherspoon) who, deciding that their lives have gotten out of hand, decide to voluntarily have themselves shrunk down. Unfortunately for the man, his wife backs out at the last minute.
Payne, who most recently directed Nebraska, scripted Downsizing with Jim Taylor, with whom he also wrote Sideways and About Schmidt. Plans call for production to begin on Downsizing following Damon’s soon-to-shoot return to the Bourne franchise.
Baldwin, in theaters now opposite Julianne Moore in Still Alice, has a busy 2015 with several still-not-officially-titled projects including Warren Beatty’s Howard Hawkes biopic, Cameron Crowe’s next and the Christopher McQuarrie-helmed Mission: Impossible 5. Sudeikis, meanwhile, recently starred in Horrible Bosses 2 and can be seeing coming up in a variety of projects, including Jared Hess’ Masterminds and Stephen Hopkins’ Jesse Owens biopic. Harris, then, will lend his voice to Disney•Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur later this year after first hosting the upcoming 87th annual Academy Awards.
